Suzuki's injury puts a spotlight on outfield depth |
Seiya Suzuki has officially withdrawn from the World Baseball Classic and is expected to miss some Spring Training games as well due to a left oblique injury that has sidelined him since Sunday. Suzuki disclosed to reporters that this oblique strain is the first major injury in his baseball career.
Cubs Manager David Ross did not give the reporters any juice in terms of a timeline, or a plan to potentially backfill the position due to Suzuki needing to miss time come Opening Day and beyond. So if Ross did not want to speculate, we at CUBSHQ sure can ponder what right field would look like should Suzuki need to be placed on the injured list. It seems apparent that Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki were slotted to be the teams starting outfield from left to right. With Suzuki potentially on the shelf, I still think the Cubs would keep Happ and Bellinger in their prospective places — as for right field, that is a different story. Trey Mancini is the first name to come to mind. Mancini is a slugging right-handed batter who many anticipated to be the Cubs' designated hitter — the role he has most recently filled for the Orioles and the World Series Champion Houston Astros. However, Mancini has primarily played the corner outfield positions in his career and appears to be a fixture in the lineup — especially in the absence of Suzuki. Nelson Velasquez should be in the mix as well. In many roster projections, Velasquez was on the bubble about making the team or starting the season in Triple-A, but he is on the 40 man-roster and became a player Ross liked in 2022. If Suzuki is not on the opening-day roster, I would almost be certain Velasquez would be. Patrick Wisdom is another name that has garnered some traction in Spring Training so far. Wisdom is a third baseman by trade but is expected to see some time playing third, first base, the outfield, and designated hitter to get his bat in the lineup. Wisdom has led the Cubs in homers each of the last two seasons, and the Cubs would like to keep his bat in the order one way or another. Christopher Morel could see some action in the corner outfield position or could play some center field while Bellinger slides to right field for some games. The Cubs plan to use Morel all over the field, and this may be a solution that makes sense without Suzuki. Mike Tauchman, Yonathan Perlaza, and Ben Deluzio have played a lot of outfield so far in Spring Training — and while they were only non-roster invites to Spring Training, we could potentially see them make the jump to the big league roster if need be. If Suzuki is sideline longer than expected, that could potentially open the door for any of the trio of elite outfield prospects to make their big league debuts: Pete Crow-Amrstrong, Kevin Alcantara, or Brennen Davis. But as it stands right now, Suzuki will be sidelined for the foreseeable future: and the Cubs are set with a few backup plans in place.
